More than 40 parks, from Mount Tamalpais to Henry Cowell Redwoods, are part of the program

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Save the Redwoods League has launched an ambitious plan to fully sequence
the genomes of two species of trees: the coast redwood and giant sequoia
genomes. The DNA of a coast redwood was extracted from seeds of trees like
this, located in Butano State Park. (Julie Martin, Save the Redwoods
League.)

But once a month, 11 times so far this year, there really has been free admission to California’s venerable redwood state parks. And now the program, aimed at helping a new generation of California residents discover some of the state’s most storied landscapes, is offering one last free admission day: next Saturday Dec. 8.

Here’s how it works. The public is offered free vehicle admission to 45 parks — majestic preserves that are home to the world’s tallest trees. It’s part of the 100th anniversary celebration this year of one of California’s oldest environmental groups, Save the Redwoods League, based in San Francisco, which organized the campaign with the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

But eager outdoors-folk can’t just show up at the park’s gates and expect to be let in without paying. First they must obtain a free day-use pass by going to FreeRedwoodsDays.org.

The passes can be used at popular parks like Henry Cowell Redwoods in Santa Cruz County; Mount Tamalpais in Marin County; Butano on the San Mateo Coast; Pfeiffer Big Sur in Big Sur, Armstrong Redwoods in Sonoma County, Calaveras Big Trees in Calaveras County and Humboldt Redwoods — home of the Avenue of the Giants — in Humboldt County.

The number of available passes varies by park. For the more popular parks, they do run out. Big Basin Redwoods State Park, in Santa Cruz County, already has issued all of its free passes, for example, for next Saturday. And national parks, like Yosemite, Sequoia-Kings Canyon or Muir Woods, are not included.

Since January, roughly 10,000 free passes have been issued, allowing an estimated 30,000 people free admission. Of those, 70 percent were first-time visitors.

“Our objective of introducing people the the redwood parks was really taken in stride,” said Sam Hodder, president of Save the Redwoods League.

“We wanted to inspire the redwood parks to become a central component of the California experience again, at a time when there’s an awful lot of bad news and and people feeling out of control about what’s going on in the world,” he said. “Our redwood parks offer solace, and stability and beauty and a sense of hope. This program was all about connecting people again to that.”

The organization paid the state parks department for each free pass that was downloaded. Admission prices per vehicle vary, but are roughly $10 per car. The league raised that money from Oracle and other donors.

The 2018 campaign, called the “Second Saturday” program, follows similar efforts in 2015, 2016 and 2017 in which the league paid for free admission to redwood parks on the Friday after Thanksgiving to encourage people to get outside and experience nature rather than rushing to shopping malls.

Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world. They grow only in a narrow band from Oregon to Big Sur, stretching more than 300 feet tall and living up to 2,000 years. Their close cousins, giant sequoias, grow in the Sierra Nevada and are the largest trees by volume in the world.

The first redwoods in California were protected in 1864 when President Abraham Lincoln set aside 20,000 acres of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias as a preserve. For decades after along the coast, loggers with broad saws and teams of oxen cut massive coast redwood trees, some of which dated back to the Roman Empire, for fence posts, railroad ties and lumber for homes.

In 1900, San Jose photographer Andrew P. Hill formed the Sempervirens Club, to preserve redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He and other conservationists convinced state lawmakers to establish Big Basin, which became California’s first state park.

By 1918, the Save the Redwoods League was founded by Stephen Mather, E.C. Bradley, William Kent, Henry Fairfield Osborn and Madison Grant. Since then, the organization has preserved roughly 214,000 acres in 66 parks, including iconic areas such as Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt County.